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Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Sticky Mango Shortbread Bars ~ #CreativeCookieExchange

Spring is in the air, birds are singing, April showers have given way to May flowers, and amazing produce is showing up at the Farmer's Markets. It makes perfect sense that our theme this month for #Creative Cookie Exchange is Seasonal Spring Baking.Of course here in Hawaii we don't follow the traditional spring routine, but it is the time of year when mangoes start ripening on the trees. It looks like it will be a bumper crop this year as the trees are overflowing with fruit. Some of most popular varieties here include Haden, Pirie, and Rapoza, and mangoes tend to be the zucchini of Hawaii - sometimes you have so many that you can't give them away. Towards the end of last mango season a friend was bringing in bags of mangoes every few days at work, and I could not possibly use them all before they went bad so I peeled them and put them in my freezer. My family has been enjoying them in smoothies, and I used the last bag of them in these Sticky Mango Shortbread Bars - thanks Jaimie and Ryan if you are reading this.

As soon as I saw this recipe on my FaceBook feed I knew I had to make them. They actually started out as lemon, but in keeping with this month's theme I subbed the lemon for mango. The title in the recipe does not lie - they are very sticky - as evidenced when I tried to get them out of the pan. I made the very bad decision to put a cutting board on top and then flip it over, thinking that I could then flip them onto a plate. Not so much. The entire pan stuck to the board. After a few choice words I salvaged them as best I could and figured that powered sugar can fix most flaws, so I powdered those things like there was no tomorrow. Of course with the humidity here they sucked up the powdered sugar like a sponge. When you make these bars, do yourself a big favor and make them in a pan that has a removable base like one of these. Also, I like my bars with a little more filling so I would probably make them in a smaller pan next time so that they are a little taller.

The funny thing is that I did not actually taste these bars, but my family assured me they were delicious. Sometimes even if we can't eat what we make we do it anyway because it is something that our family enjoys - that's what baker's do. I actually like mango but it does not like me, and I get a rash from eating it, so I try to avoid it in bigger quantities.

If you would like to know more about #CreativeCookieExchange and see what the other bakers made for the Seasonal Spring Baking theme please scroll down below the recipe. Thanks to Laura from The Spiced Life for hosting.

You can also use us as a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts (you can find all of them here at The Spiced Life). You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

Also, if you are looking for inspiration to get in the kitchen and start baking, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made ~

Mangoes are one of my favorite fruits and I just can't stop drooling over these bars! Living in Florida, our mangoes are just starting to form on our trees and, when they're ready,these cookies will definitely be on the to do list. I sympathize with the humidity problem - ditto for Florida. too!